Фред Ли Крисман: Ұшқыш, құпиялар және күмәнді оқиғалар

American pilot (1919–1975)

Fred Lee Crisman (July 22, 1919 – December 10, 1975) was a fighter pilot and later educator from Tacoma, Washington known for claims of paranormal events and ties to 20th century conspiracies. In 1946, Crisman claimed to have battled with non humans in caves during the Second World War. The following year, he attempted to convince two early flying saucer witnesses that lava rocks were in fact debris dropped from a flying saucer. In 1968, Crisman was subpoenaed by a New Orleans grand jury in the prosecution of a local man for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy—a prosecution that would later be dramatized in the 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK. Conspiracy authors consider Crisman "a nexus point for a number of conspiracies and cover ups from the late 1940s until [his] death in 1975". In 1933, he and his family moved to Vale, Oregon; His father ran a hotel there. In 1939, Crisman graduated from Vale Union High School. In 1943, Crisman was listed an aviation cadet undergoing training at Lancaster, California. He was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Crisman left the Army as a First Lieutenant on February 19, 1946. That month, Crisman filed to run for coroner. In May, Crisman addressed the Tacoma Real Estate board in the Hotel Winthrop about veterans' real estate problems. In August 1946, Crisman, then described as the head of the state department of veterans' affairs, addressed the Seattle American Veterans chapter. Later that month, he addressed the Lions Club. On November 5, Crisman lent his name to an ad endorsing Hugh J. Rosellini for prosecutor. In November 1946, Crisman, then described as a special investigator for the bureau, gave a speech about mental illness in returning servicemen to the Kiwanis club at the Hotel Winthrop. In December 1946, Crisman was elected to represent Washington members of veterans organization AMVETS at an upcoming session.

In 1946–47, pulp magazine Amazing Stories was an outlet for fantasy, science fiction, and fringe claims. The May 1946 issue, for example, included purportedly true fringe adventures by Richard Sharpe Shaver, the fiction of Dorothy & John de Courcy written in the style of Shaver, a defense of the religions of Tibet by Millen Cooke, the fiction of Robert Moore Williams, an allegedly true eyewitness account of unidentified objects in the skies by Dirk Wylie, and other genre blurring texts.

Amid the Korean war, in April 1951, it was reported that Crisman had been ordered to active duty. That conflict ended in July 1953.

In 1953, he returned to teaching in Elgin, Oregon. In 1955, Crisman accepted a job as superintendent at Huntington. On April 15, 1957, Crisman was charged with drunken disorderly, resisting arrest, and pulling a firearm on the arresting officer; He was fined $100. In 1958, Crisman was cited in connection with a local tradition of a fictional high school student at White River High. Also in 1958, Crisman took a course at Pacific Lutheran University. In 1959, Crisman organized a fundraising project that sold booklets about the varsity basketball team. In 1960, Crisman's civics class authored a letter to the editor on the Caryl Chessman death penalty case, arguing "Has the time come when the United States takes orders from other countries? The Chessman case is a problem which is testing the judicial stability of the United States. The exterior infiltration on the United States and the exterior infiltration of the State of California should not force our government to bow down to the opinions of other nations and countries." Crisman resigned from White River High in June 1960. In 1964, Crisman began teaching in the Turner school district, and it was reported his book on "Industrial Recruiting" had been accepted for publication. In April 1965, his post was listed as journalism teacher. On February 21, 1966, Crisman was suspended and later dismissed from his teaching position at Cascade High on a charge of insubordination and "creating a secret society". The board added that "the organization is of such a nature that should not be condoned or authorized to exist in this district." District officials said the society had been limited to five students, and officials declined to disclose the nature of the organization.

In 1966, an FBI informant claimed that Crisman had transported $100,000 in cash to California, was doing business as a psychologist, and was suspected of operating a diploma mill. In July 1966, Fate Magazine ran an ad for the "Western Division of the Parapsychological Society" inviting new members to join by contacting "F. Lee Crisman, PhD". In November 1966, Crisman founded The Professional Research Bureau, with T. Edward Beckham and Searoba Bates, seeking "to conduct research and consultation within the fields of peology research and industrial psychology, public relations and criminology".

On March 1, 1967, New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw was arrested for conspiring to assassinate John Kennedy. According to controversial district attorney Jim Garrison, the first person Shaw called after being charged was Fred Crisman. On October 31, 1968, a grand jury in New Orleans issued a subpoena for Fred Lee Crisman in connection with the investigation into the John F. Kennedy assassination. District attorney Jim Garrison issued a press release, writing:
Mr. Crisman has been engaged in undercover activity for a part of the industrial warfare complex for years. His cover is that of a "preacher" and a person "engaged in work to help gypsies." Our information indicates that since the early 1960s he has made many trips to the New Orleans and Dallas areas in connection with his undercover work for that part of the warfare industry engaged in the manufacture of what is termed, in military language, a "hardware"—meaning those weapons sold to the U. S. government which are uniquely large and expensive. Mr. Crisman is a "former" employee of the Boeing Aircraft Company in the sense that one defendant in the case is a "former" employee of Lockheed Aircraft Company in Los Angeles. In intelligence terminology this ordinarily means that the connection still exists but that the "former employee" has moved into an underground operation. More often than not a "bad record" or evidence indicating that he has been "fired" is prepared for the parent company to increase the disassociation between the two. That same day, Crisman was arrested by Tacoma police for reckless driving. By January 9, 1969, Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorist Richard E. Sprague was privately accusing Crisman of being one of the three tramps.

Starting on August 1, 1968, Crisman hosted a radio talk show under the pseudonym "Jon Gold" on station KAYE. Wrote Crisman:
"You must take a page from the Communist Manifesto You must learn to halt the elections at P TA units. Do not stop with school organizations, infiltrate each garden club, suborn its social policy and convert it to an agit prop group." In January 1969, Crisman was sued for libel along with other KAYE personalities by a city official who had been accused of being a communist; The case was dismissed. Crisman authored a book, The Murder of a City, Tacoma published in 1970 through Transistor Publishing Company. The book was described by reviewer Michael Sullivan as a "weird, politically slanted rant" that manages to "tie corruption in Tacoma to everything from communist infiltrators to the Kennedy assassination". In November 1970, KAYE was the subject of hearings by the FCC amid complaints that the station violated the Fairness Doctrine. Crisman's behavior was the subject of extensive discussion, with one witness arguing his playing of "Nazi war songs" had jeopardized the station's licence. Citizens opposed to KAYE discussed the stations promotion of the antisemitic conspiracy theories and presented transcripts of Crisman making anti black comments. One listener reported that "she heard a KAYE broadcast of the Jon Gold Show in which reference was made by a caller to getting rid of Rowlands in the manner which President John Kennedy and his brother were disposed of". Crisman resigned from KAYE. Two subpoenas were issued for Crisman to appear before the hearings, but he disappeared and could not be located. In 1970, Crisman was appointed to the Library Board, despite objections about his false claims of having held a doctorate. Crisman was elected Vice President of the Tacoma library board. Crisman was named as a possible investor in Tacoma cable television. Local news discussed whether a gun had been allowed inside KAYE.

Beginning in 1970, a photocopied document called the "Torbitt Document" or "Nomenclature of an Assassination" circulated among Kennedy assassination buffs claimed that Crisman was one of the "three tramps" allegedly employed by a secret government agency. The document incorrectly names him "Chrismon" and falsely claims he was a Syrian immigrant. In 1971, Crisman ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the civil service board. In 1973, Crisman resigned from the Tacoma Library Board of Directors. Crisman unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Tacoma city council. In September 1974, Crisman was hospitalized for kidney failure. On April 12, 1975, Crisman married Mary Frances Borden. In April 1975, True Magazine published a photo of Crisman, speculating he was one of the "three hobos" of JFK conspiracy lore. The November 1975 issue of Crawdaddy Magazine repeated this claim and further claimed, without evidence, that "Olympia police suspected [Crisman] of narcotics activity in connection with a group called "Servants of Awareness". Fred Crisman died on December 10, 1975. At his death, it was noted that Crisman was a graduate of Willamette University with degrees in political science, history, and education and psychology. In 1977, controversial district attorney Jim Garrison claimed that Crisman was one of the "Three Tramps" arrested by Dallas police as well as being a Bishop of the Universal Life Church. Garrison theorized:
"I suggest the only reasonable conclusion is that he [Crisman] was (and probably is, if still around), an operative at a deep cover level in a long range, clandestine, intelligence mission directly (in terms of our national intelligence paranoia) related to maintaining national security Crisman emerges as an operative at a supervisory level acquired by the apparatus to carry out the menial jobs that are needed to push a current mission forward, a middle man—in the final analysis—between the mechanics who eliminate, and the handy men, who otherwise support a termination mission, on one hand, and the distant, far removed, deep submerged command level on the other." In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations reported that forensic anthropologists had analyzed and compared the photographs of the "three tramps" with those of Crisman, as well as with photographs of Watergate figures E. Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis, and two other men. According to the Committee, only Crisman resembled any of the tramps; but the same Committee determined that he was not in Dealey Plaza on the day of the assassination. In 1997, influential conspiracy author Jim Marrs cited the document as proof that Crisman had been a member of the OSS during World War 2; Marrs was criticized for relying on the untrustworthy document. In 1999, conspiracy author Kenn Thomas's book on the Maury Island incident carried the subtitle The Crisman Conspiracy.